In dealing with difficulties and trials in life, it helps to know you’re not alone. Difficulties come into everyone’s life.

“My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.”

There’s that word when – not if. Whenever you face trials, remember, you’re not alone.

Second, our attitude helps determine our outcome. Our attitude is critical. In the midst of your trials – you have options. You can be miserable and angry and frustrated … or you can look for the lessons to be learned – or the way you’re being stretched and growing. You could look at your problems as a stumbling block or a stepping stone.

Third, you can be certain God has a purpose. The Scriptures say, “… knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance (patience). But let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.”

Rev. J. Hamby says that knowing that trials have a purpose can make a big difference in how you face the hard time that you’re going through. God has not abandoned you, no matter how you may “feel.”

Peter also reflects on the purpose of suffering when he says in 1 Peter 1:6-9, “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen, you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith – the salvation of your souls.”

According to James, enduring these tests produces certain characteristics in the people being tested. First, they become “mature” – not perfect, but spiritually mature. Second, they become “entire” – meaning whole and complete, fully developed, mature. Third, they are “lacking in nothing” meaning that God will provide everything they need to remain obedient in their lives of faith. “Strength for today … and bright hope for tomorrow.”

What good is faith unless it is tested and proved? And yet, we try to avoid being tested, don’t we? We don’t like it when we are tested, not even in school. Testing is a completely negative idea in our heads. But, James says, change your thinking.

James says that we consider the facing of our trials a joy. The NRSV translates the word (hegesasthe) as “consider.” Some scholars believe that is actually a little weak and doesn’t really get at the force of the word.

I “consider” what flavor of ice cream I want, or I “consider” which shirt I’m going to wear. There really isn’t a whole lot of thought that goes into it. James isn’t just asking us to take this idea lightly, but rather he’s stretching us to allow this way of thinking to completely rule or control our minds and our actions. “Trials = joy” must transform our minds and control our perception of everything we face.

If I said, “Raise your hand into the air.” That’s something that you can actually do. You can will your hand to rise up into the air. However, if I said, “Jump up and touch the moon.” That’s something you can’t do … no matter how much you may want to. James is asking us to change the way we think about our problems – to make the effort on our own – no one else can do it for us. It has to be a conscious decision we make in our mind.

Fourth, we were not intended to go through trials alone.

We don’t go through trials alone. We have God’s wisdom at our disposal. Verse five says, “If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you.”

This wisdom is not just philosophical insight about how to handle life, but spiritual wisdom divinely given to you … wisdom that is beyond your own understanding – who doesn’t want that?

Many of us have heard this principle that suffering comes to perfect us (trials come to only make us strong). But how do we put that knowledge into practice in a specific situation of testing? What do we do? Do we stay where we are, or do we move elsewhere, do we look for release or do we expect God to fulfill us where we are? What do we do? James says, in a situation like that, ask God!

Fifth, God ultimately intends our trials to be a blessing.

James ends this section on trials by saying in verse twelve, “Blessed is anyone who endures (trials) temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who believe in God.”

You endured the test – bless you. “Blessed” means happy. Better yet, it means satisfied. Better yet, it means fulfilled with inner joy.

We all experience trials, but God has something great in mind, and James is calling us to see it.

Let me close by sharing this thought from Charles Spurgeon (the great preacher and theologian of the 1800s). “I have always looked back to times of trial with a kind of longing, not to have them return, but to feel the strength of God as I felt it then, to feel the power of faith as I felt it then, to hang on to God’s powerful arm as I hung on to it then, and to see God at work as I saw it then.”

What an attitude! Let that be your attitude as you count it all joy.

Rev. Dan Koeshall is the Senior Pastor at The Metropolitan Community Church (The Met) in San Diego, California, themetchurch.org.

Bad things happen to everyone – it’s true. Including me. I remember a particular morning in the office it seemed like there was one problem after another – and they began to add up. It was time to go to lunch and yet another crisis came to my attention and before I knew it, it was going on 2 p.m. I had to get to lunch. So, I’m in my car and I hear sirens. I’m at the intersection in front of our church and I turned left to get out of the way, as the fire trucks usually go up the hill. Not this one, it turns my direction and I pull over as it speeds by; I am finally able to continue to get on the 5 north to the next exit. I’m not even on the freeway, but stay in the exit lane that is just 1,000 feet in front of me … and I notice a car going by me on the freeway with a sticker that says, “I love my Pastor.” Aww … I had to laugh and say, thank you! It helped me know God has a bigger picture and I can laugh at my “problems.”

As long as we’re living and breathing, stuff happens; suffering happens; problems will occur. The book of James, found toward the end of the New Testament, is not a book known for its deep doctrine. It’s not a theological treatise; it’s a practical book.

It’s called “the little big book”, and is, at times, referred to as the proverbs of the New Testament. There are two key words that we will see in James: works and faith.

They’re not contradictory but they are complementary. However, the theme of James is not just faith and works; it is faith that works!

James begins his letter in verse one by identifying himself as “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Now, James is the brother of Jesus! Jesus wasn’t the only child born to Mary and Joseph. James was one of several sons and daughters. If they are listed in birth order in Matthew 13, James is the oldest after Jesus and so the closest in age to Jesus.

As anyone with siblings will tell you, comparison is inevitable. Most of us have heard the statement, “Why can’t you be like your brother/sister?” How do you think it must have felt to literally have a perfect brother? I wonder if James heard, “James why can’t you be more like Jesus?”

After Jesus’ resurrection, not only did James believe, he went on to be considered an apostle and became the pastor of the church at Jerusalem. He was noted for his deep faith and his profound life of prayer.

James, in this letter, is writing to people who are going through severe hardship. They were hated, rejected and considered outcasts. But rather than console them he challenges them. He challenges them to rethink their difficulties. And he challenges them to trust God in the midst of their difficulties.

James would have laughed at the idea that believing in God will make all your problems disappear, and that you will “live happily ever-after.” In fact, James is saying that it is our response to our trials that prove the reality of our faith. Someone has said, “People are like teabags, you don’t know what’s in them until you put them in hot water.”

When you experienced times of trial in your life you may have asked, “Why? Why am I experiencing these troubles?” Or “What purpose could this possibly serve?” I know I have.

Have you ever really looked for the answer? Or did you just throw your arms up in disgust, blame God, and turn bitter. Think back to a recent trial, big or small. How did you feel about it? How did you react to it? What kind of thoughts went through your head? What was your attitude? Anger? Frustration? Disappointment? Failure?

I don’t think we are to passively endure a time of testing, but we do have the opportunity to learn from the experience. It’s our attitude that determines outcome. Bad things happen to good people all the time. What’s your attitude?

Rev. Dan Koeshall is the Senior Pastor at The Metropolitan Community Church (The Met) in San Diego, California, themetchurch.org.

One of my favorite phrases in Scripture is found more than 450 times in the King James Version of the Bible: “It came to pass.”

This can be very good news, especially as we’re thinking of wilderness times. Wilderness times come. As sure as the sun will rise – there will be a season in our life where it feels, dry, desolate and a bit scary. But, the good news is they don’t stay. They are not permanent. They pass. Wilderness times always come to an end (this too shall pass) and are always followed by a new beginning.

According to Dante, written over the gates of hell are the words, “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” Sometimes we imagine that those words are written over the gate to the wilderness experiences we’re going through and we are tempted to just give up, to abandon all hope. The good news of our faith, however, is that the wilderness is never the final destination and hope is alive and well, even in that scary and desolate territory.

Life is about growing – right? Think of the seasons of the year … when is the most growth? Spring … and what takes place right before then? Winter.

New beginnings are all over in the Gospel message. No matter who we are or what we’ve done, no matter if the wilderness is of our own making, or if it came from left field, God is present in the wilderness with us, and can lead us through it and eventually out of it. Don’t give up! When we find ourselves in the wilderness of guilt and separation from God and from others, there is a way out of the wilderness and a new beginning. God provides that way. This is the good news!

The apostle Paul knew the power of being made new and set free from the wilderness. Paul wrote, “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.”

Jesus told the story of a man who had two sons. One day the younger of the two went to his father and, in so many words, said, “I wish you were dead.” He asked for his inheritance. Not at all appropriate, since his father was very much alive! The father gave his younger son his share of the inheritance and the son ran away and foolishly spent it all. All that money his father had worked hard to earn and set aside for his son was just thrown away – used to satisfy the son’s every whim and desire and, also, trying to buy friends. Not a very pretty picture.

It didn’t take him long to blow his inheritance and he found himself homeless and hungry. Before long, he found himself doing the unthinkable. He wound up feeding pigs and was so hungry he even wanted to eat the pig slop. He was in the wilderness! He hit “rock bottom.” It wasn’t until then that he came to his senses and he said, “How many of my father’s hired help have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!” So, he came up with a plan and decided to go home and beg his father for forgiveness. As he was approaching the familiar place that once had been his home, his father saw him. His father was so overjoyed and excited that he ran to his son, threw his arms around him, and kissed him.

Jesus taught us that God, in this parable, is like that loving father. If you’re in the wilderness, feeling separated from God, and perhaps you even ran into that wilderness yourself, God is waiting and will run to meet you and welcome you home with open arms, ready to give you a new beginning. It’s not too late. It’s never too late.

The good news of our faith is that the wilderness never has the last word. When Jesus was on the cross, he was in the darkest wilderness of his life. As Jesus hung there, the life draining from him, he experienced the rejection, the anguish and the loneliness of the darkest wilderness. Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” But, we know that the cross was not the end.

When you walk through the wilderness know that you’re not alone. No matter what you’re going through, know that the wilderness time shall “come to pass.” I’m wishing you a great week. You’re fabulous.

Rev. Dan Koeshall is the Senior Pastor at The Metropolitan Community Church (The Met) in San Diego, California, themetchurch.org.

We each have our own times of wilderness – and the testing that goes with that. Each wilderness experience that comes our way brings difficulties and struggles – and, also – opportunities for growth and learning.

The Gospel of Mark says that there were wild beasts in the wilderness with Jesus. Aren’t our wilderness times also filled with wild beasts? Fear crouches in the shadows nearby, ready to pounce and strangle. Temptation and trials slither around, waiting for the opportunity to strike. Despair circles overhead, just waiting. Rev. TK Bruster says that, wilderness times have their wild beasts! They are times of challenge. Our faith, our values, our trust in God, what we believe, are all tested in the wilderness.

There’s a birthday card that says, “As you grow older, don’t worry about avoiding temptations. Temptations will avoid you.” Wouldn’t that be nice if it were true! The truth is we never outgrow temptation. St. Anthony said, “Expect temptation with your last breath.” Temptation is a very real part of life and it’s especially challenging in wilderness times – those times of spiritual dryness, loneliness, despair, fear, disappointment, low self-esteem, un-forgiveness and bitterness. In those times, it feels as though we are more susceptible to the power of temptation (it’s like a magnifying glass). But, each temptation in the wilderness presents us with a corresponding challenge. Challenges can be good!

In the wilderness, the temptation is to stray from the values we hold dear. The challenge is to hold on to them and live by them.

In the wilderness, the temptation is to take shortcuts, to avoid struggle, to find the easy way through. The challenge is to move through the struggle, take the hard way and learn the lessons.

In the wilderness, the temptation is to listen to voices that would distract us from God. The challenge is to listen to our living, loving and life- giving God.

I went through Lenten Study called “Release Your Inner Splendor” with affirmations by Rev. Adriana Segovia. Here are some that spoke to me …

“I am open to letting Spirit express through me.”

“Aware of God’s presence within me, I experience the fullness of life.”

“I think, speak and act from the sacredness of my Being.”

“The wisdom and love of God inspire my every decision.”

“As I pray, I let go and let God be God in me.”

What voices are you listening to?

In the wilderness, the temptation is to substitute “stuff” in the place of God to make us feel better. The challenge is to live knowing that God is sufficient. One of the great temptations we face is the temptation always to have more. Happiness is just around the corner if only we have more things, or more wealth, or that elusive relationship. Is your happiness dependant on “things”?

In the wilderness, the temptation is to give up. The challenge is to persevere. The life-giving way is to rise to meet the challenges head-on and persevere in doing what’s right, in being faithful to God, in trusting God, in listening to God, and in loving others as God loves us. The good news is that God strengthens us to meet the challenges.

Paul wrote out of his own experience, “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but not crushed and broken. We are perplexed because we don’t know why things happen as they do, but we don’t give up and quit. We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going”. Perseverance is so often the key to meeting the challenges of the wilderness.

Every time we meet a challenge of the wilderness, it helps us prepare for meeting the next challenge – and there will be a next one – that’s life. We struggle with our temptations in the wilderness and out of that struggle comes character. James 1 tells us, “My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.”

In the stories of the Desert Fathers there is one story by Thomas Merton concerning Abbot John the Dwarf. Abbot John prayed to God that all passion be taken from him. His prayer was granted. He went to one of the elders and said: “You see before you a man who is completely at rest and has no more temptations.”

The elder surprised him. Instead of praising him, the elder said: “Go and pray to God to command some struggle to be stirred up in you, for the soul is matured only in battles.”

Abbot John did this, and when the temptations started up again, this time he didn’t pray that the struggle be taken away. Instead, he prayed: “God, give me strength to get through the fight.”

Don’t look at trials and temptations as just something negative, there is another side. If we pay attention, we’ll have the opportunity to learn about ourselves, to grow as a person, to become stronger, and more mature in our faith.

What are the areas of trials and temptation for you? Anger? Talking about other people? Temper? Abusing drugs? Abusing sex? Alcohol? Food? Cutting yourself down with your words? How do you hurt yourself and others through your actions or inactions?

We learn from Jesus that we meet the challenges of the wilderness by meeting God daily. Jesus was ready to meet the challenges in the wilderness because Jesus had met daily with God. When we meet God daily before the wilderness time comes our way (and it will), then we are better prepared for the challenges of the wilderness.

Rev. Dan Koeshall is the Senior Pastor at The Metropolitan Community Church (The Met) in San Diego, California, themetchurch.org.

We all have wilderness times in our lives. Jesus’ wilderness time “immediately” followed his baptism and the powerful affirmation of who he was: “You are my Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” The Gospels say that the same Spirit who descended on him at his baptism also drove him out into the bleak, lonely and dry Judean wilderness for forty days of testing and temptation.

Wilderness time is a part of our lives too. We can’t get around it. We can’t live and love without sometimes ending up in the wilderness. What are wilderness times? T.K. Brewster describes wilderness times as those times when we feel we are tested to our limits, and we describe those times in wilderness terms: dry, desolate, lonely, trying, difficult and agonizing. We speak of hunger, thirst and longing in the wilderness.

The first thing to remember about wilderness time is that it’s a time for learning.

One of those email lists making the rounds a few years ago listed significant things children have learned about life. Like:

“You can’t trust dogs to watch your food for you.”

“Don’t sneeze when somebody is cutting your hair.”

“When your mom is mad, don’t let her brush your hair.”

“No matter how hard you try you cannot baptize a cat.”

These are the kinds of accelerated learning experiences we call “learning the hard way.” So it is with the hard time in the wilderness. A lot can be learned in the wilderness, but one lesson stands out. The wilderness can be a time of accelerated learning about priority – what really matters in our lives.

Patrick Morley in his book The Man in the Mirror relates the lack of a clear sense of priority to a trip to the grocery store on an empty stomach without a shopping list. Nearly everything looks delicious and you wander through the aisles without a plan, loading up the shopping cart with goodies. After the shock of the bill at checkout, there is the shock when you arrive home with sacks of snacks and food for only three “real meals!”

Life presents us with options – so many ways to use our resources, time, abilities and influence. Without a clear sense of what is most important, we can spend it all and at the end of the day find that we haven’t taken care of what matters most.

Jesus’ time in the wilderness – coming just before he was to begin his public ministry – was a time for sorting out what mattered most and to get clear about God’s will for his life. The longer accounts in Matthew and Luke tell us that Jesus was tempted by: wealth, fame and power to steer him away from his mission. As we follow Jesus into the wilderness, we can see that our own wilderness time can be an important time of testing our values, looking at what is most important, and making decisions about our life’s priorities.

A few years ago, my mom was in the wilderness, suffering from cancer. During the time of her surgeries and treatments, I was privileged to spend time with her in that wilderness. She showed me without words how her priorities changed. She was present and more and more started to live in the present moment – rather than worrying about the future – of which she had no control.

She said something like, “I’ve learned that what I thought was very important before doesn’t seem very important now, and what I took for granted and thought I could put off for another day has risen to the top of my list of priorities.”

As painful as wilderness experiences are, they can yield more spiritual growth than the good times. They can be times of learning about ourselves, about God, about what is most important and about where life is headed. Without that time of self-examination, taking inventory and learning – whether in the wilderness or not – life can just go along without much thought.

Here are some good wilderness questions: What important relationships and friendships have I been putting off to some future time? What is God calling me to do with my life and with all the resources God has given me? What in my life right now do I take for granted?

A successful business woman visiting the pier of a coastal village noticed a small boat with just one fisherman pulling up to the dock. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. She complimented the fisherman on the fish and asked how long it took to catch them. “Only a little while,” the fisherman replied.

“Why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?”

“I have enough to support my family’s needs.”

The business woman then asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”

The fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, and stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my friends. I have a full and busy life.”

The business woman scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats and eventually have a whole fleet of boats. You would cut out the middleman and sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution. You would need to leave this small village and move to Mexico City, then Los Angeles, and eventually New York City where you would run your expanding enterprise.”

The fisherman asked, “But, how long will all this take?”

The MBA replied, “Fifteen to twenty years.”

“But what then?” the fisherman asked.

The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time is right, you would announce an initial public offering and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich; you would make millions.”

“Millions?” the fisherman asked. “Then what?”

The American said, “Then you would retire and move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, and stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play guitar with your friends.”

What is most important in your life? Where is your life headed? These are good wilderness questions!

Rev. Dan Koeshall is the Senior Pastor at The Metropolitan Community Church (The Met) in San Diego, California, themetchurch.org.

One of the things I love about MCC is the diversity we have. People come from all walks of life and from many different denominations, church experiences and spiritual paths. We are a community church built on the premises of what our founder, Troy Perry called the three-prong gospel: Christian salvation, Christian community and Christian social action. All are welcome here.

Our approach to faith and Christianity is one of openness, inclusiveness and even exploration. In striving to embrace and celebrate diversity, we don’t say what or how a person has to believe in order to find full fellowship in this community of faith. Everyone is encouraged to bring their own personal perspectives, questions and doubts. Some would call this progressive Christianity – open to considering new ideas and understandings. God is not neatly tucked into a box.

Rev. Fred Plumer told of how he was asked the question, “Do you think the Easter Story is true?” He answered as fast as he was asked the question, “It must be true. I don’t think the church would have survived for 2,000 years if it wasn’t.”

And here we are – in 2012 – telling the story of Jesus and what is true are those timeless lessons that Jesus left his followers and ultimately us. What is true is that anyone can experience the “kingdom” or the Realm of God. What is true is that if we ever experience that Realm, we wouldn’t want to live any other way. And then Jesus told his followers how to do it.

He told us that he could not do it for us. It’s up to us to choose to walk the path. It’s up to us to develop the eyes to see and the ears to hear that the world around us, and all we come in contact with, are part of God’s creation.

What is true is that when we learn to take responsibility for our actions, make amends for those whom we have harmed and change what we have to change, so that it will not happen again, then our lives will be different. We will begin to experience a true freedom.

What is true is that if we begin to trust that God ultimately has our best interest at heart, we might discover that everything that we do, every action we take, every mistake that we make becomes a new lesson and an opportunity – a lesson we needed to learn. And if we learn from those lessons and put them in perspective we’ll begin to live a full and spiritually fulfilling life.

What is true is that learning to forgive others and ourselves is the first step to true freedom. If we want to move forward with our lives, if we want to lift the burdens from our back and remove the stones from our hearts, we must learn to forgive those who we believe have harmed us. Carrying the weight of anger, or judgment, or hurt around, because we can’t let it go, is harmful.

What is true is that we need to learn to love the way God loves us, the way a mother loves her unborn child. When we learn to love our neighbor, even our enemies, as we love ourselves, all of the false barriers, prejudice, racism, classism, ageism and so many other “isms” begin to fall away. When we reach out in compassion to one who needs us, or can learn from us, or can be healed by us, then we discover God’s light in them and it helps our light burn brighter. Then we discover we are all connected – we are not alone.

If the Easter Story is true, (and I believe it is), it means we have to rethink our values, our priorities, our lives. It means we have to learn to trust God, to give up some of the control we hold on to. It means we have to let go of the attachments that we believe define us. It means we have to stop trying to be number one or feeling badly because we are not number one and learn how to live as one within God’s great creation, by how we love.

Jesus shared the truth that the Realm of God, that ultimate relationship with God and with one another was available to anyone. That is the good news that we celebrate on Easter Sunday; that is the good news that we should celebrate every day.

Rev. Dan Koeshall is the Senior Pastor at The Metropolitan Community Church (The Met) in San Diego, California, themetchurch.org.

We’ve arrived at the season of Lent, that period of the church year during which people figure we’re supposed to feel miserable. Mardi Gras – “Fat Tuesday” in French – was a time of joy and revelry – and pigging out. This stands in stark contrast to the observance that began Ash Wednesday. Now the fun stops; at least that’s the popular understanding. But is it true?

But the word “Lent” originally meant “springtime,” not misery.

Lent has changed a lot through the centuries. The early church celebrated Lent only for a few days before Easter. Across time, the length of the season grew until it was several weeks long. In the seventh century, the church set the period of Lent at forty days (excluding Sundays) in order to remind people of the duration of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness.

The Lenten observance began as a time of purification and preparation. In the early church, baptism was only performed on Easter Sunday – so, an entire year’s worth of converts to the faith would be baptized and brought into the church that one day. Lent was the time before Easter when these converts would fast and pray, preparing themselves to be members of Christ’s church.

As the years went by, the church began to baptize and confirm people on days other than Easter Sunday. Lent was no longer a time of preparation for these events, but it remained a special time of prayer and fasting.

After the Reformation, the discipline of fasting became unpopular (and it never regained much popularity). As a way of preserving Lent as a time of self-sacrifice, the church leaders encouraged people to give up something they enjoyed during Lent.

I don’t like to view Lent as a negative season, but to keep in the spirit of giving things up, the following are some suggestions (some inspired by Rev. C. Gates):

Give up grumbling! Instead, in everything give thanks. Constructive criticism is OK, but moaning, groaning and complaining are not fruit of the spirit.

Give up 10 to 15 minutes in bed! Instead, use that time in prayer, Bible study and personal devotion.

Give up looking at other people’s worst points. Instead concentrate on their best points. We all have faults. It’s a lot easier to have people overlook our shortcomings when we overlook theirs first.

Give up speaking unkindly. Instead, let your speech be generous and understanding. It costs so little to say something kind and uplifting. Why not check that sharp tongue at the door?

Give up your hatred of anyone or anything! Instead, learn the discipline of love. Love covers a multitude of sins.

Give up your worries and anxieties! Instead, trust God with them. Anxiety is spending emotional energy on something we can do nothing about: like tomorrow! Live today and let God’s grace be sufficient.

Give up TV one night a week! Instead, visit some lonely or sick person. There are those who are isolated by illness, ability or age. Why isolate yourself in front of the “tube?”

Give someone a precious gift, your time!

Give up buying some luxuries for yourself! Instead, give the money to God. The money you would spend on the luxuries could help someone meet basic needs. We’re called to be stewards of God’s riches, not consumers.

Give up judging by appearances and by the standard of the world! Instead, learn to give yourself up to God. Try to see people through eyes of love and grace.

Lent is still the church season in which we prepare for Easter Sunday. It’s a time to remember the temptation, the suffering and the sacrifice of Jesus. It’s a special time of prayer and reflection, of confession and self-sacrifice. Most of all, it’s a time to ready ourselves for the sheer joy of Easter morning – resurrection power is available to everyone!

By the way, you are invited to Holy Week services at MCC:

April 1, Palm Sunday.

April 4, Prayer Service of “Letting Go and Letting God.”

April 6, Good Friday.

April 8, Easter Sunday.

Rev. Dan Koeshall is the Senior Pastor at The Metropolitan Community Church (The Met) in San Diego, California, themetchurch.org.

Have you ever heard of a healthy prayer life? There are several key elements to a healthy prayer life – and the most important is our relationship with God.

Rev. D Flanagan says that our relationship to God can be like that of a personal friend. When we feel that God is absent from us, we assume God is somehow separate and distant from us. If, however, we can reimage God to be our “ground of being” rather than “something other,” our relationship with the “one who created us” (Our Creator) becomes more intimate and constant.

Prayer has a social component too. Self-renewal through the one who created the world and us moves us to a higher purpose, thus, a call from God. God’s call is to use us in the healing of the world.

The Bible stories remind us of the faithfulness of our covenant God. Without a strong basis in faith, if technology ultimately fails us, many in our culture may be facing tremendous personal and social crises.

Prayer, too, is risky. When we pray, we are transformed and moved to a higher calling to change the world. I like centering prayer, although it was difficult at first, I like meditating on Scripture. There are a variety of ways to invest in prayer. One style of prayer is not superior to another, but one style may be more comfortable than another for you.

Rote prayers, the most common style of prayer, can be public or private. Rote prayers are common in public worship. The Savior’s (Lord’s) Prayer, the most common rote prayer, is almost universally used in Christian worship.

There are a number of prayers designed to enhance one’s relationship with God. The traditional centering prayer focuses on one word such as “God” or “love.”

Intercessory prayers invite God to change something. Intercessory prayer can be of a personal nature, seeking something for the one praying, or it can be of a social nature.

Praying the Scriptures, or lectio divina, encourages us to live in the Scripture, to allow the Scripture to move us. In short, the Scripture prays for us.

Silence may be the most powerful form of prayer. In the silence, if we listen intently as did Elijah, God will encounter us in surprising ways.

Movement may be the least appreciated form of prayer. The movement of our bodies praises God, expresses suffering, or simply communicates openness. Prayers of thanksgiving are uplifting, not only for God but also for us. Giving thanks to God in prayer often motivates us to give thanks for other people and other things in our lives.

Finally, there are the prayers of higher purpose, which may feel more like prayers of resistance. In these prayers of response we offer ourselves to God for higher purposes.

We may be intentional about just one form of prayer, or several forms of prayer, but prayer is not an isolated practice.

If prayer is a human response to our awareness of God, then prayer is manifested in every aspect of our lives. No matter what we are doing, when we are aware of God, we are praying.

Ultimately, prayer moves us to a higher plane. The power and intent of prayer is fulfilled in community. This community is engaged in the healing of the world.

Rev. Dan Koeshall is the Senior Pastor at The Metropolitan Community Church (The Met) in San Diego, California, themetchurch.org.

Bill Gates said, “In terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There’s a lot more I could be doing on Sunday morning.” Isn’t that the truth – especially here in San Diego!

Rev. Dan Flanagan wrote, “For the postmodern person, spirituality is anachronistic. (Definition: The representation of someone as existing or something as happening in other than chronological, proper or historical order.)

A culture with a strong faith in technology doesn’t have much patience to wait for God. In our opinion, God’s response to our prayers may seem time challenged, or even nonexistent. A culture focused on efficiency, profitability and instant gratification is not likely to be drawn to a compassionate God of history.

The biblical story tells of a covenant God with a covenant people. “I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:6). Although the covenant came through one person, Abraham, it was a covenant for all human descendants. “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing” (Genesis 12:2). The biblical pattern is that God works through individuals for the benefit of all people.

God’s blessings to the whole usually come at a price for the one called. Moses, for example, was content tending his flock when God called. “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt” (Exodus 3:7, 10). After four hundred years of frustration, God’s intervention must have been a joyous occasion for Israel. But their complaints for the next forty years wandering in the desert are clearly recorded in Scripture and during the Babylonian exile.

The power of the covenant God comes in community. Prayer is, and should be, a personal communion with God. It is also a common experience in the covenant community, an experience of communion with other people.

A Hebrew word for prayer, avodah, means “to be of service” and “to work or take action for a higher purpose.” Prayer has a social component. When we pray to invite God to change our environment, we also must be ready to be changed. Abraham, Moses and Jesus each discovered that in a relationship with the divine, prayer is not a passive experience. Prayer moves us to a higher purpose.

In some ways there are similarities between today’s younger generations and those who lived through the politically charged 1960s and 1970s. Many were, and still are, skeptical that a relationship with God would bring about racial equality, eliminate poverty, and bring world peace. These socially active baby boomers wanted to change the world and they were impatient waiting for God to do it.

Our covenant God is a God of change, and the covenant people are called to be the agents of change. Abraham, Moses and Jesus were change agents, instruments within the covenant community for God to heal the world.

Our personal struggles may offer a way of reconnecting us with God, the “ground of our being.” God as ground is a wonderful image of renewal and safety as we gain strength to reenter the social arena. Jesus’ prayer at the garden of Gethsemane, for example, was Jesus’ attempt to ground himself to give him strength to face the cross.

Our most frequent prayers may seek God’s intervention. We may come away from this intercessory prayer wondering why God has not responded, or unable to discern God’s response.

Yet our biblical history assures us that God is faithful to the covenant community. We may enter prayer hoping for personal healing and discover that the real power in prayer is in community.

Whereas often our human vision is myopic and time constrained, God’s vision lacks limits and seeks the good of God’s creation. Our prayer life reconnects us with our ground of being and calls us into community and toward the larger vision to heal the world.

Rev. Dan Koeshall is the Senior Pastor at The Metropolitan Community Church (The Met) in San Diego, California, themetchurch.org.

Many of us were taught that God is perfect in every way. Then life experiences happen and challenge these assumptions about God. How do we understand God’s role in suffering, evil and natural disasters?

In our computer age, we demand a broadband God who responds to our needs immediately (on a 4G network). Any delay in response causes frustration in our relationship with God. Frustration also comes in trying to discern God’s response … and then accepting God’s response. However, a healthy prayer life is less about understanding and more about experiencing God.

When I went to seminary there was a heavy emphasis on theology, (hermeneutics, homiletics, Greek, Hebrew – not so much about the practical parts of ministry – it was all very “heady”). Since then, spiritual practices, like meditation, have become an increasingly important part of my spiritual experience.

An article in Christian Century magazine talked about a student entering Duke Divinity School who made it clear that she wanted her seminary experience to form her as a person of prayer. For this student, as it could be for all of us, prayer is a way of life rather than an isolated call for divine crisis intervention.

Rev. D. Flanagan said that persistence in prayer is a common theme of the Gospels. In the eighteenth chapter of Luke, the story of the persistent widow suggests persistence is a characteristic of the faithful (she wouldn’t give up). After teaching his disciples how to pray, Jesus urges the disciples to be persistent as someone seeking bread from a friend at midnight. In the midst of our frustrations with God, we are called to maintain a relationship with God in prayer. (“When it seems hard to pray – pray harder.”)

Leonard Sweet talks about changing his prayer life in his book Learn to Dance the Soul Salsa, by deleting a comma. Instead of the crying out, “Please, God,” his prayers are now of the form “Please God!” or, how can God’s purposes be fulfilled in our lives? If our emphasis is “Please God,” rather than “Please, God,” our prayers become a celebration of our relationship with a divine friend, rather than enticing God to meet our expectations.

A Native American tradition illustrates divine presence. On the night of a boy’s thirteenth birthday he is placed in a dense forest to spend a night. Following an anxious and sleepless night, as the sun rises the boy sees the figure of a man standing just a few feet away, armed with a bow and arrow. It is the boy’s father who has been there all night long. Like the Native American father, our God is relational and compassionate. (AIDS crisis in the ‘80s and early ‘90s – lost 1/3 of our men – it was the women who were there – caring and carrying the load – I see God in that!)

Read more inspiring examples, analogies, parables and metaphors regarding prayer in WTF? (Where’s the Faith) at LGBTweekly.com.

Rev. Dan Koeshall is the Senior Pastor at The Metropolitan Community Church (The Met) in San Diego, California, themetchurch.org.